Leo Gburek (born 18 April 1910 in Bismarckhütte; died 17 January 1941 in

Shetland Shetland, also called the Shetland Islands and formerly Zetland, is a subarctic archipelago in Scotland lying between Orkney, the Faroe Islands and Norway. It is the northernmost region of the United Kingdom. The islands lie about to the no ...

) was a German

geophysicist Geophysics () is a subject of natural science concerned with the physical processes and physical properties of the Earth and its surrounding space environment, and the use of quantitative methods for their analysis. The term ''geophysics'' som ...

and a member of the Third German Antarctic Expedition 1938/39.

Life

Leo Gburek attended the Volksschule and Oberrealschule in

Beuthen Bytom (Polish pronunciation: ; Silesian: ''Bytōm, Bytōń'', german: Beuthen O.S.) is a city in Upper Silesia, in southern Poland. Located in the Silesian Voivodeship of Poland, the city is 7 km northwest of Katowice, the regional capita ...

. In 1929 he began a study of geophysics at the

University of Leipzig Leipzig University (german: Universität Leipzig), in Leipzig in Saxony, Germany, is one of the world's oldest universities and the second-oldest university (by consecutive years of existence) in Germany. The university was founded on 2 Decemb ...

. In the summer months of 1937 and 1938 he took part in expeditions to

Spitsbergen Spitsbergen (; formerly known as West Spitsbergen; Norwegian: ''Vest Spitsbergen'' or ''Vestspitsbergen'' , also sometimes spelled Spitzbergen) is the largest and the only permanently populated island of the Svalbard archipelago in northern Norw ...

, where he undertook geomagnetic surveys. There he met Ernst Herrmann, who was also a member of the third German Antarctic Expedition led by

Alfred Ritscher Alfred Ritscher (23 May 1879 in Bad Lauterberg – 30 March 1963 in Hamburg) was a German polar explorer. A ''Kapitän zur See'' in the ''Kriegsmarine'', he led the third German Antarctic Expedition in 1938–39, which mapped the New Swabia (ger ...

. Due to his polar experience Gburek was selected in October 1938 to join this expedition. His responsibilities included geomagnetic measurements on the Antarctic continent. A group of rocky elevations on the ice sheet was named by the expedition leader '' Gburekspitzen (

Gburek Peaks The Gburek Peaks () are a group of rocky elevations including Straumsvola Mountain and Jutulrora Mountain, forming the western end of the Sverdrup Mountains in Queen Maud Land, Antarctica. They were discovered by the Third German Antarctic Expedit ...

)''. At the beginning of World War II Gburek was conscripted and served as a weather observer in the

Luftwaffe The ''Luftwaffe'' () was the aerial-warfare branch of the German ''Wehrmacht'' before and during World War II. Germany's military air arms during World War I, the ''Luftstreitkräfte'' of the Imperial Army and the '' Marine-Fliegerabtei ...

in weather reconnaissance squadron Wekusta 1 / Ob.dL. In January 1941, his plane was shot down over the Shetland Islands during a reconnaissance flight and he was killed, aged 30, during the crash landing at Vaasetter, Fair Isle.The Last Flight – Heinz Thurz
(Luftwaffe pilot's accounts of the last mission), retrieved 25 July 2015 He was buried on 20 January 1941 in the cemetery of Fair Isle but, along with his colleague Georg Nentwig who also died in the crash, he was later reburied at the

Cannock Chase German Military Cemetery The Cannock Chase German Military Cemetery () is on Cannock Chase, Staffordshire, England. The cemetery contains nearly 5,000 burials from both the First and Second World War. The burials are mainly German and Austrian nationals with a very small ...

, Staffordshire, England.

Publications

* "Geophysikalischer Arbeitsbericht". In: ''Vorbericht über die Deutsche Antarktische Expedition 1938/39. Annalen der Hydrographie und Maritimen Meteorologie'' VIII (1939), Beiheft, S. 21–23. * "Erdmagnetische Messungen, Eisuntersuchungen, Strahlungsmessungen und Kernzählungen". In: A. Ritscher (Hrsg.) ''Deutsche Antarktische Expedition 1938/39. Wissenschaftliche und fliegerische Ergebnisse''. Band 2, Mundus, Hamburg 1954–1958, S. 97–100.

References

External links

Walter Hesse: ''Zum 10jährigen Todestag von Leo Gburek''.
Polarforschung Band 21, S. 32. {{DEFAULTSORT:Gburek, Leo German polar explorers German geophysicists 1910 births 1941 deaths Burials at Cannock Chase German Military Cemetery Leipzig University alumni Luftwaffe personnel killed in World War II Aviators killed in aviation accidents or incidents in Scotland